Story: Sri Lankans

The Tamil Bell

Tamils have long been seafarers and traders. It is
believed that they reached northern Australia by the 14th
century, and there is a suggestion that they may have got
as far as New Zealand. In 1836 the missionary explorer
William Colenso found this bell, which had been used by
Māori as a cooking vessel for generations. Inscribed on
it in Tamil are the words ‘Mohoyideen Buk’s ship’s bell’.
The bell is now held at the national museum, Te Papa.
Theories abound, but the precise origins of the bell and
how it got to New Zealand remain a mystery.